Chapter 7 Leadership Across Cultures In this section, you will learn about the characteristics of a good leader in the work place. This kind of leader should be good at cross cultural communication when working with people from different cultures. Management and Leadership have similar meanings. However, there are some differences: Management: More like a “science”, depends on ascribed power and authority (power assigned arbitrarily) with a focus on decision making and administration. Leadership: More like an “art”, depends more on personality/charisma, the ability to communicate with others and their vision. Ultimately, Leadership has more concern for culture. As businesses become more interconnected, monocultural leadership is less important. Some reasons for interconnected businesses are: ◦ Outsourced Jobs- moving a company to another country for some benefit. ◦ Business mergers- business from different countries come together. ◦ Foreign Acquisitions- one foreign company obtains/buys part or all of another company. These things cause a need for a multicultural workforce and leadership that can handle it. Today’s leaders must be prepared for the future as globalization becomes greater. Some challenges facing leaders: pg. 126 Globalization/global expansion has made business much more interdependent (connected with each other.) Because of this, leaders need to have more skills than in previous generations. Created by J. Adair. An idea that says a good leader should think about 3 important things: 1.) Task Needs 2.) Team Needs 3.) Individual Needs These 3 needs are important because a good leader needs to make sure the individuals members of a team can work together and also independently to complete a task. According to this section in your textbook, what are some important personal qualities of a leader? -They need to have: Determination Good judgment Flexibility Empathy Resourcefulness Situational Leadership: “the need to change some characteristics of leaders as the “global situation” changes. Some situations are: 1.) Natural Disasters- Flood, Earthquake, Tornado, Hurricane 2.) War 3.) Economic Problems- (Depression/Recession) Good leadership ability still depends on: 1.)personal power 2.)a focus on strong motivating ability (encourage others) and well-developed communication skills 3.) the ability to respond quickly to different situations It is important for companies to think hard about who they choose for their leader because failure is so costly. According to some studies by Heller, important criteria for a successful international manager are: 1.“The stamina of an Olympic runner”- A strong will/body 2.“The mental agility (speed) of an Einstein”- The ability to think fast and smart 3.“The emotional detachment of a judge”- Fair like a judge 4.“The tact of a diplomat”- Sensitive toward others 5.“The perseverance (hard working/insisting on doing something) of an Egyptian pyramid builder” – Never giving up on a difficult task. Tung Conflict resolution skills Social orientation Leadership style Flexibility and open mindedness Effective communications style The ability to cope with stress Willing to try new things and ideas E. Marx Cultural sensitivity Linguistic skills The ability to manage ethical/cultural differences Resilience Adaptability Able to manage work/family life Building, leading and sustaining multinational teams. There are different types/styles of leadership: Autocratic Style: the manager holds all the power, including policy and decision making. The manager controls everything. Democratic Style: the focus is on the group and not just one person. The leader is more part of the team and works with the team to make decisions. Laissez-Faire Style: the manager is more of an observer who stands back and gives team members a lot of freedom to act. Based on the studies of Lewis (Chapter 3), there are also different types of managers: Linear-active Managers: managers who demonstrate and Multi-active Managers: managers who are more outgoing, Reactive Managers: managers who possess good value high technical competence, focus on facts, logic before emotion, immediate achievements and results. flexible and able to deal with change, and they use their personality to inspire people. interpersonal relationships and are good at listening then reacting. Respected for positive atmosphere. Leadership styles will differ in relation to what is considered motivating factors : High Uncertainty Avoidance: need job security. Employees require strong direction and clear rules/regulations. (Don’t like risks) Low Uncertainty Avoidance: prefer more risky opportunities for fast-track advancement (promotion) (Okay with risks) High Power Distance: Employees want a leader to make decisions for them. Low Power Distance: People are more motivated by teamwork and relationships between peers (coworkers) High Individualism: the focus is on the need to motivate individuals by providing opportunities for personal advancement and autonomy. (Focus on individuals) Low Individualism: motivation is more likely to by appealing to group goals. (Focus on group) High masculinity: employees are more comfortable with the “traditional” idea of the work environment. Feminine Cultures: looser boundaries, motivating people with flexible roles, equal opportunities and more focus on compromise than conflict. In order to develop people with more available talent, there has been an increase in global leadership programs. Two that we will talk about are: GLOBE Research Project INCA Project The Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) Project began in 1992. The research examined the extent to which the practices and values associated with leadership are universal. (Used or seen everywhere) The project identified 21 primary leadership dimensions. (Pg.135) These factors are present in all cultures in some way. From the results obtained, the research identified six culturally endorsed leadership dimensions. 1. charismatic/values based 2. team-oriented 3. self-protective 4. participative 5. humane-oriented 6. autonomous This project was created in 2005. This project found desirable cultural qualities to be: Tolerance of Ambiguity- dealing well with the unexpected. Behavioral Flexibility- the ability to change the way you work with others to avoid conflict. Communicative Awareness- the ways in which misunderstandings may occur due to cultural differences. Knowledge Discovery- a willingness to research and learn from intercultural encounters. Respect For Otherness- regard for values, customs of other cultures Empathy Towards Other Cultures- the ability to understand other people’s thoughts and feelings There are many selection methods that companies use to try to find international managers/leaders: Head-hunters: employ executive search techniques to help identify high quality candidates from within a company. Cross-National Advertising: involves using international advertising agencies and advertising consultants across the world. Internet Recruitment: using the internet to search through a wide area of people and specialties all over the world. International Graduate Programs: finding good candidates from a group of recent graduates. In Western cultures, it is generally accepted that some form of performance appraisal (feedback/evaluation of someone’s job performance) happens. However, in many cultures (like many Asian cultures) there are some problems with giving any sort of performance appraisal. “Saving Face”- Managers don’t want to look bad. There are some key areas of concern when considering performance appraisal. 1. the extent of the differences between national and corporate culture. 2. the problems of giving feedback (saving “face”) 3. focus of individual in a collectivist culture 4. whether goals can be time managed 5. power-distance differences 6. social relationships; a focus on managing people, not tasks. We will watch a short video about cross cultural business/management relationships. Answer the questions below: What are the three key stages for reaching an understanding in the work place? Also, try to note the examples the give for each one. Mainstream Leadership: leadership that reflects the values, norms and behaviors of the predominate group in power. Traditional Leadership: Leadership that comes originally from within a cultural group and is not perceived to have power within the mainstream power structure Cross-Cultural Leadership : Leadership that is effective across two cultural groups. This type of leadership style maintains a certain level of influence and power within the mainstream power structure but also maintains credibility with the second cultural group. People who possess cross-cultural leadership skills are sometimes called “bridge builders.” Of the qualities we discussed today, what are the three most important qualities/characteristics of a cross-cultural leader? Why? Do you think performance appraisal is an important part of a job? Do you think it is important for employees to get feedback from their leaders at a job? Why or why not?
